19 attended today. Kathy O's husband came in to visit with his cousin Carol so I made him sign in too so we had 18 ladies and 1 man today! Our big activity today was dividing up the batting that the Jacksons donated. We cut the thin and the thick batting into big pieces. There weren't enough pieces for everyone so we drew names out of a bag. Then we cut the bondable batting into table runner sized pieces and everyone who's making the challenge table runner took a piece of that. I think everyone went home happy. They all contributed to the donation fund for the Friends of the library too. The Friends are making out like bandits thanks to the Jacksons. We passed around a thank you card to send to the Jacksons so everyone could sign. Other than that...Sandie was doing cutwork embroidery. I was truly amazed because I haven't seen that done before and it just looks like it would take forever! Ethel had almost finished an embroidered hanging. I assume it will be in the Embroiderers guild show at the Pruyn House that is coming up. It was beautiful with beads and ribbon embroidery. Tina made some adorable knitted owl hot pads. I couldn't convince her to sell me one though. They were very cute. Betty brought in her serger to get some more instruction from Kathy O. who seems to have become an expert. I really admire Kathy's fearlessness at learning new machines, new techniques, etc. Plus she is such a natural teacher!

23 ladies attended yesterday. Tina brought in her adorable chicken quilt to work on. I think it will be the hit of the show next year. Fran had a rather large chicken pincushion to show. And I had made a quilt top over the weekend I wanted to show. Of course, the big excitement of the day was the return of Skip and Sharon with more sewing room giveaways! Skip suggested that in lieu of payment for all they were giving that we make a donation to the Friends of the Library. This was very generous of them and the ladies were all very happy to show their appreciation. Yesterday alone I collected $120! and not everyone had money or checkbook on them. The Friends will be very happy I'm sure. Other goings on yesterday, Kathy O., Sue and Betty all brought in their sergers to take some serger lessons. Kathy O. decided she wanted to make an all serged quilt so brought some serged pieces to show. I'm afraid most of us were so busy looking through the giveaways that we didn't pay much attention to the serging going on. Sandie was back from vacation and had purchased some very interesting "yarn". It was more like a ribbon with holes in it. You knit through the holes. The finished scarf looks like a boa or a clown's ruffle. It was most intriguing! Unfortunately, you need that specific kind of "yarn" to make that scarf and since they don't sell it around here Sandie's likely to be the only one to make a boa scarf. I passed out patterns for the table runner challenge and told people to feel free to change the pattern up some to make it work for you. As long as it looks like a rail fence pattern and has the same measurements it will be fine. The point is to take the same pattern and make our own versions of it to see the variety possible. I don't know if this is a good, workable challenge but I guess we'll find out if anyone actually makes it.

23 people attended on Tuesday. The big surprise of the day was Skip and Sharon (Sharon used to come to Nimblefingers), who are moving to Florida, bringing in a load of quilting supplies, including a quilt frame! Free stuff brings out the viciousness of the ladies: they pounce like a pack of vultures! I'm just glad no one got hurt! Next week we hope to divvy up some of the batting and I'll be looking for a home for the frame. I think I'm going to have to come up with a plan for when they bring in their fabric. I want to make sure everyone gets a chance at it plus I want to save some for our stash here. I'm thinking about it... The other highlight of the afternoon was Marguerite's quilt which she finished quilting this year. It is a variation of the Star Fling pattern. It is quite beautiful! I also brought in a table runner of a Kaffe Fassett pattern in Kaffe Fassett fabric. It's for a challenge in another group and the pattern came from the book: Skinny Quilts & Table Runners From Today's Top Designers. I suggested that we pick a simple pattern from this book and that we each make the pattern in our own fabrics, with our own embellishments. We're going to try it and see how it goes.

18 ladies attended today. Deb was back today. She has almost finished uncluttering, cleaning, painting, etc. her house. She says it looks great and feels great. I desperately need to do this to my house but who knows when it will get done. I was glad Deb was there though so I could show her, and the other ladies who weren't here last week, the pictures of my new puppy Rudi. Deb had lots of suggestions for dog training and I need all the help I can get! I brought in my black and white quilt. I needed some suggestions for the border. I got some so now I have no excuse not to go home and finish it. The East Greenbush quilt group is hiring a bus to the Somers quilt show on 5/5. Contact me for more information.